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Fidelis Munyoro–Chief Court Reporter
The trial of corruption cases is set to be stepped up once legislation to protect whistle-blowers and witnesses for them to freely testify in corruption cases is in place.
Over 100 corruption cases have been set down and are at various stages of prosecution.
The lack of a clear system to protect whistle-blowers and insulate witnesses from victimisation had slowed the movement of corruption cases in the courts.
This also meant that anti-corruption institutions in the country ended up focusing on low-level corruption involving small sums of money, while the big fish continued to accumulate ill-gotten wealth.
Cabinet has since approved a draft bill on protections for whistle-blowers and witnesses, and Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission chairperson Justice Loyce Matanda-Moyo, hailed the move as important.
She was speaking to journalists after the National Anti-Corruption Steering Committee meeting held in Harare on Thursday.
Justice Matanda-Moyo said a lot was now happening in the fight against corruption and on the preventive side, efforts were being made to ensure general compliance with good corporate governance by the private sector and public enterprises.
“The Ministry of Justice (Legal and Parliamentary Affairs) has also noted that the principles for the whistle-blower protection legislation has been done and approved by Cabinet and very soon we are going to witness the enactment of whistle-blower protection legislation,” she said.
“In Zimbabwe, we had not such protection and there has been a lot of victimisation of the witnesses.
“The coming in of this law means our witnesses are going to feel protected and we believe that they are going to be willing to testify in corruption cases.”
Justice Matanda-Moyo said police and ZACC have upped their investigative efforts and a lot of documents have been sent to the National Prosecuting Authority for prosecution.
She expressed delight in the movement of prosecution of cases, saying many cases had been set down, according to a report by a sub-committee tasked to see the fight against corruption.
“The committee noted that 102 cases have been set down and they are at various stages of prosecution,” she said.
“The Sub-Committee on Asset Recovery also noted that some cases have been set down before the courts for confiscation of proceeds of corruption matters.”
The meeting also noted that the cluster on political will, has also met and they are coming up with pledges where members of political parties will take pledges to prevent corruption and promote integrity within their parties.
Acting Prosecutor-General Mr Nelson Mutsonziwa said he was confident that the prosecution would get substantial convictions in the cases that have been set down for trial.
“We have teams to deal with the cases,” he said.
“They have right skills and they are competent enough for the task. We have no shortage of manpower at the moment, courts are in place. We hope and look forward to these cases being successfully prosecuted.”
Commissioner-General of Police, Godwin Matanga, said their main thrust was to make sure their officers go through specialised training which would be followed by the acquisition of the correct equipment for use during investigations.
Online Reporter